Jerrit John, the 44-year-old man accused in the Dadar chemical attack case, has allegedly revealed that the chemical he splashed on to the face of Aaryanka Hosbetkar, 26, his ex-girlfriend, was ordered over the telephone and home delivered.
This is in contrast to his earlier claims
that he had bought the corrosive chemical from a shop at Masjid Bunder.

The Dadar police, who had arrested John from Nalasopara on November 11, four days after the incident, said he had procured the chemical from a dealer after obtaining his number from a local search directory service. The police said John, who runs an editing studio at Bandra, called the dealer on November 3 and told him he was in urgent need of the chemical for a film shoot.

The Dadar police said John had been trying to misguide them earlier by making false claims. Bharat Bhoite, inspector at Dadar police station, said, "John had called a leading local directory search service to get the number of a chemical dealer. He got the contact details of one Kalpesh, who is a chemical dealer registered with the helpline. John told him he wanted six different types of chemicals for a film shoot."

The dealer, as per John's requirement, provided him with bottles of four chemicals packed in 500ml bottles. Kalpesh personally delivered the bottles to John at Marine Lines station and charged him around Rs1,500, police said.

John, however, used only one of the bottles. Dhananjay Kulkarni, deputy commissioner of police (Zone V) said, "He has now claimed he has disposed of the other bottles. We are not buying his claims and are trying to trace the other bottles." The police have also summoned Kalpesh for questioning. The officials said they had also sought bills of the transactions between him and John. Kalpesh's statement and the bills will add to the evidence against John, police said.

The police are awaiting forensic reports on the nature of the chemical splashed on Hosbetkar's face. The police have also sent her mobile phone to the forensic laboratory to retrieve the data.